Help Mr. McAdams' Students Purchase Books

Hello! My name is Trey McAdams. I am a current 8th-grade ELA and social studies teacher on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. I am here as a second-year Teach for America corps member working at a school that serves mostly children of military families. Over the past two years, I have come to realize that one of the greatest barriers to building reading comprehension for my students has been a lack of access to new and relevant books. While our school does have a library, many of the books are parts of class sets or many decades old. Additionally, COVID-19 restrictions have made it difficult for my students to visit the library and actually check books out. At the last Scholastic Book Fair, many of my students were able to find books that they were interested in but simply did not have the resources to afford them. Due to these limitations, I have been trying to build up my own class library for students to check out books for free. As it stands now, my class library contains a mix of older books donated from previous teachers and books that I have brought in from my own personal collection. With the help of donations, I am hoping to expand my library by purchasing books that my students have requested. Each of these books will be tailored to the individual student's interests and reading level and will be available for them to take home as they please. Anything that you can spare will help and go a long way in improving access to reading for my students!